Archives for 10 December 2014

Cricket Eastern Cape (Pty) Ltd today announced that coach Piet Botha would be stepping down as Head Coach. Botha, who has been involved with the franchise since its inception in 2004 and as Head Coach since 2011 has decided that he will not re-apply for the Head Coach position when his contract ends in April 2015.
"After some serious deliberation and some poor results over the last few months I have decided that I will not re-apply for the position and that it is therefore only fair on the Team, Support staff, the Board and the Public that I step aside as Head Coach at this time" said Botha
"I believe that the team is in need of a new direction and part of that process is to get a Coach with a fresh approach. I also believe that certain important decisions will have to be made now in order to help the team get back to its glory days of 2010. The Board has therefore accepted my recommendation and I will step aside as Head Coach and will continue to assist in a Technical Advisory position"
Malibongwe Maketa, Assistant Coach will take over the reins from Botha for the remainder of the season. "I am honoured to be given this opportunity. Piet has over the last two years allowed me to grow as a coach and I am looking forward to taking up the challenge. It will be important for the team to finish the season with some good results and I hope that I will be able to assist them in doing this."
Dr Gary Paul, Chairman of Cricket Eastern Cape Human Resources and Remuneration Committee said "when CEC was recruiting for an Assistant Coach 2 years ago it was a process undertaken with due regard to the medium and long term possible succession implications. The position for Head Coach will be advertised in due course and although Malibongwe will be taking over in the interim, a competitive recruitment process will be embarked upon."
CEC Interim CEO, Thando Booi thanked Piet for his dedication and commitment to the franchise over the past ten years "Piet has been an outstanding ambassador for the franchise and cricket in general. His knowledge and passion for the game is undeniable and his decision to step down shows the calibre of person he is."
When looking back on his years at the Warriors Botha said "One of the highlights was helping the Warriors reach the Champion's League final vs. Chennai Super Kings as assistant to Russel Domingo. Others were … [Read more...]

The Consumer Price Index (CPI) eased to 5.8% year-on-year in November in line with market expectation.
“The headline CPI (for all urban areas) annual inflation rate in November 2014 was 5.8%. This rate was 0.1 of a percentage point lower than the corresponding annual rate of 5.9% in October 2014,” said Statistics South Africa (Stats SA) on Wednesday.
The food and non-alcoholic beverages index increased by 0.6% between October 2014 and November 2014.
The transport index decreased by 1.2% between October 2014 and November 2014 mainly due to a 45c/litre decrease in the price of petrol.
On average, prices were unchanged between October and November.
The biggest contributors to the annual figure were the housing and utilities as well as the food and non-alcoholic beverages categories which added 1.4% and 1.2% respectively to the figure.
“Inflation is likely to remain relatively contained in the coming months on the back of lower commodity - especially oil - prices. The volatile rand though does pose an inflation risk and we might start seeing the effects of the rand coming through in the numbers later in 2015,” said Nedbank economists.
The bank said that the inflation outlook has improved significantly over the past few months and inflation is expected to remain under the Reserve Bank's 6% upper target range well into 2015.
“This, together with the weaker growth outlook, reduces the probability of an interest rate hike at the Monetary Policy Committee’s January meeting. Our forecast is for rates to remain on hold throughout the first half of 2015 and then to start increasing in the second half of 2015 to end the year at a repo rate of 6.75%,” said the economists. - SAnews.gov.za … [Read more...]